James
"I'm always comfortable with you, Barnaby." - James James is a student at St. Thom Huell and a member of the rugby team. He shared a room with Barnaby (until James' death), whom he has some romantic feelings for. Biography The Boy from the Hellmouth In the year below the the protagonists, James was a student of St. Thom Huell and part of the Rugby team. He was noted to be relatively skilled and strong despite being younger than his peers, and was relatively smart despite being a "rugby lad". In Episode 1-2, James was found by Layla, Barnaby, Imogen and Robert being used possibly as a blood sacrifice for the opening of a magical-mechanical device below the school by what turned out to be demons. Mr. Penrose may or may not have been involved, but was spotted nearby and did not intervene. After the demons were defeated Barnaby cut James down. It transpired that James was involved in a ritual intended to open the Hellmouth under the school. Whether intentional or due to the side-effects of the incomplete ritual, James' intelligence was drained, leaving him essentially mentally handicapped. An initial check-up at the nurse's office was not fruitful. James has rather hazy recollections of the incident and appareared to be somewhat unaware at the time. He may have been under demonic influence, drawing pictures of strange landscapes with his own blood after being rescued. He recalled the presence of "pretty girls" and "pretty things", which caused "bad stuff" to happen; this has led to no particular leads. James was removed from the rugby team by Mr. Woodbridge but later brought back onto the reserves by Barnaby. In the process James confessed that he was gay and has a crush on Barnaby. In Episode 3, Barnaby made arrangements for James to become his dorm-mate in order to look after him, a fact which has made life somewhat difficult for Barnaby, who does not reciprocate James' romantic feelings and has to deal with James occasionally thwarting his plans when dealing the others. Since then James has become a constant presence with the group. The group, in particular Imogen, have attempted to research whether it was possible to heal James' mental draining condition, but to no particular effect. An attempt to do so using a captured Ammit Scarab from the Alexandria was rendered impossible after a test-run on Barnaby resulted in the disintegration of the Scarab in a process which only increased Barnaby's knowledge. James has been exploited somewhat by the group, with Imogen using James' appearance as a disguise to break into the Boys' Changing Rooms and later, to assist Layla and Robert's breaking into Mr. Woodbridge's office. James' whereabouts during the Nando's Incident is unknown. James has also been somewhat of a source of amusement at Barnaby's expense, due to James occasionally interjecting in conversations, often with understandings, revealing information that was generally embarrassing to Barnaby, such as Barnaby's "rules" regarding social conduct. In Episode 5-6, James accompanied the group to The Basement nightclub in Little Rosewater, where he was not allowed to drink alcohol by the others, but nonetheless managed to get drunk by stealing Robert's drinks. While enjoying himself, James made a wish that the night would never end. Due to circumstances out of his control, James' wish was granted by a vengeance demon and the night did not end until the group managed to track down the culprit. The culprit was a vengeance demon in the guise of their classmate Violet, who had allegedly taken pity on James' discomfort at being left behind and regarded as somewhat unimportant by the others. While there is some validity in this anger, due to the others often shrugging James off or cutting him off mid-sentence, it is possible that due to his reduced mental faculties that James does not recall the attempts (albeit multiple failed attempts) to cure his condition. Due to James' recollection of "pretty girls", Violet or any other female demons in disguise may have been involved in causing him to be captured by the demons in the first place. Generally quite passive, James interceded in Barnaby's defence against Violet in demon form, but did not help in the fight against the biker vampire in the OK Kebab Shop. James was later taken to the hospital in Greater Rosewater by Barnaby to be checked out by specialists after magical attempts to research or cure him reached a dead end. James was convinced to do so under the pretense that it was a date with Barnaby. In the process James told Layla of Barnaby's "private time" and "stale socks", to Barnaby's great embarrassment. A visit to the brain specialists turned out to be relatively inconclusive, but it was found out that James may have undergone some electroshock, with things pressed against the side of his head, resulting in brain damage. The neurologist consultant was unable to determine the cause or duration of the condition. James was given mood-regulating medication under Barnaby's recommendation; the consultant allowed this, understanding that James was Barnaby's "mate". Later, in some rugby team tryouts, Barnaby made the decision to put James on the team again. After hearing of a medical ward at the hospital where there were patients similar to James, Barnaby, Layla, James and Robert visited the hospital only to encounter Drox demons who were attempting to kidnap babies for the purpose of converting them into to Drox demons. Barnaby, Robert, Layla and Dr. Feelgood left to fight the Drox demons at the local stone circle, where Barnaby revealed that he was a secret Drox demon, to the group's dismay. Later, this would become a major point of contention between Barnaby and his friends. After revealing this to James, James assured Barnaby that he loved him no matter how large he was. Restoration James' condition was the matter of much concern for the group, and it was eventually decided to make James party to an intellect-raising spell by Imogen, so that he could recollect some of the circumstances around the time he became mentally drained. After realising what he had said while mentally-drained, he helped the group realise that Mr. Penrose was the suspect, and joined them on their trip to the library in the school basement. There he helped them fight against Mr. Penrose, revealed to be the fallen angel Penemue, attacking Penrose with abandon to protect Barnaby and later carrying Barnaby out in a bridal carry. As the group's activities against Penrose intensified James formalised his relationship with Barnaby, confessing properly once his intellect was restored. Afterwards, Imogen would often cast spells to allow James some semblance of normality with Barnaby as much as possible, though he would not be as intelligent as he was the first time Imogen tried the spell. It is noted that Barnaby and James engaged in intercourse, which Violet spied on. In the final engagement against Penemue James escorted the Golem and its control paddle, joining in the fight late to make sure that Penemue could seize control the Golem mid-fight. While the Golem was largely useless, James did manage to tackle Penemue and contribute. After the fight, James and Barnaby decided not to bonk and decided to join the victory party in Layla and Imogen's room. Tragically, as they were celebrating, James was hit by gunfire and appeared to sustain at least 3 fatal wounds from the salvo, including a punctured lung. It transpired that James was hit by gunfire from an SA80 assault rifle (of all things) which Mr. Miller had stolen from an airdrop requested by Robert. James died in Barnaby's arms, foaming at the mouth, failing to finish saying to Barnaby that he loved him. Later, the four charged off in revenge for James' death, Barnaby turning into his Mega-Bak'tarbe form and charging through the window, and Imogen becoming a conduit of magic. Together, the four restored Mr. Miller's soul before Layla finished him off. Barnaby, Layla, Imogen and Robert attended his funeral, the latter two left before the wake and Layla stole a bottle of red wine and also a bottle of red wine. At the funeral, it appeared that despite the recently-gained lucidity James was granted by Imogen's intelligence spells, James had not informed his family that Barnaby was his boyfriend or indeed, roommate. During the funeral Barnaby and Imogen spoke of bringing James back from the dead. Later, Robert sought to make contact with James in Heaven, while Imogen and Barnaby swore to find a way to return James to the mortal plane. Robert attempted to stymie these efforts, stealing the books useful for this effort from Penemue's library below the school. Ultimately, Robert managed to make contact with James after the group managed to dissuade Barnaby from attempting to pull James from Heaven without his consent. Barnaby had a tender talk with James, who was in Heaven. There, he asked Barnaby to continue to live his own life, mentioning that he was happy in heaven. With the five minutes available, the talk ended quickly, with James saying goodbye. Later, at Christmas, in transpired that James, in one of his moments of clear intellect, had prepared gifts for his friends under no illusions that he might not survive. To Barnaby he would have given a camera, and to Robert a leather laptop case. To Layla and Imogen he had arranged a date at Little Rosewater Brassierie on New Year's Eve, having paid for it beforehand. Each present was accompanied with a note the recipients emotionally received. Later, Layla and Imogen's date was reluctantly changed to 12th February, 1998 due to the imminent fight with Bur'nakk. No Further Rest Notes * James' death was treated with a minor amount of dismay by the community at large. * James' death was in part influenced by Barnaby possessing the "tragic love" drawback in character creation. Category:Layla the Vampire Slayer Category:Non Player Characters